The 40-year-old chapter of the psychology honor society Psi Chi at The University of Toledo has won its first international award.
The chapter has received the Psi Chi Model Chapter Award for 2011-12 because of its outstanding membership, correspondence, involvement and projects. UT’s chapter was one of 50 to receive the award out of 1,100 chapters across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Ireland and New Zealand.
Throughout the past few years, chapter members have been working hard to receive recognition from the organization, which is one of the largest honor societies in America and has been around since 1929.
During the past two years, membership recruitment has grown, going from around 10 new members in the previous year to more than 20. Also, each year, the chapter attends the Midwestern Psychological Association conference in Chicago, where members present results from a research study they prepare before the conference.
“I think our goal is to build a society here that is a go-to place for undergraduate psychology majors to really feel like they’re connected to the University and their community,” said Dr. Jason Rose, UT assistant professor of psychology and the chapter’s faculty adviser. “It can really help them advance their scholarship.”
While members are generally undergraduate students, there are some graduate students who help with fundraising as well as conduct panel discussions where undergraduate students can learn about applying to graduate school.
“It’s a lot easier for the graduate students in our program to give insight into the process of applying to graduate school than it is for some of the faculty who haven’t done that in a while,” Rose said.
The chapter officers who helped the organization to win the award were President Juliana Black, Vice President Jacqueline Deaton, Treasurer Zachary Jenkins and Secretary Hanna Wutrick, who is this year’s president.
For more information, visit utole.do/psichi.
